By the Rev. Scott Kidd, rector, Church of the Resurrection, Sautee-Nachoochee, Ga.
(Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared in the White County News, Cleveland, and is run with their peremission. –eeb)
When I was growing up, my parents searched for a church home so that my sister and I would have a proper religious upbringing. They found an Episcopal Church that fit just right and my family became very active.
Kidd
My parents were ushers and served on various committees. My sister and I were enrolled in Sunday school classes, and I was an altar boy. I remember that church members looked after me and they became a second family that cared for and nurtured my family.
I was fortunate that my church did not teach legalism, but a generous divine theology about the love of God for all people. The church became a place of refuge from a chaotic world where my father could go to pray alone in the side chapel when life seemed overwhelming, and I could wonder what God was like in the imagination of my heart. My young experience in the church was mystical, disciplined, mandatory and good.
After I graduated from high school, I stopped attending church like many young people do as they go off to college and start an adult life. When we had our first child, my wife and I decided to find a church home to offer our children the same opportunity to discover that same love of God we experienced growing up. Thirty-two years later, church life has been an intricate portion of my family’s DNA.
Last summer, while I was on a three month sabbatical from my parish, the time off gave me the opportunity to visit other churches. So I attended a new church each Sunday to get a different perspective than my usual view. As I visited the various places and traditions of worship, I wondered why people go to church these days. As a pastor, I have had folks stop attending church for many reasons, but I have never really seriously thought about giving up on church, even though it is my vocation.
I don’t always find church fulfilling or entertaining, but that’s not why I continue to be faithful to it. I go to meet God in the presence of other Jesus-seekers. I go to be reminded and challenged by the radical nature of Jesus’ inclusive call. I go to be part of a body where I can join with those who doubt and ask hard questions without fear.
I go to learn from faithful people who represent a diversity of genders, age, race, and social class. I go, not to find certainty, but to discover a path that leads in a divine direction for this journey of life.
I never try to cover up the fact that the church has and continues to make many mistakes, like any institution. Most families are flawed and full of eccentric characters which make it hard to transform, but few people entirely give up on their family.
Many families these days find more appealing ways to spend Sunday morning. But some of us make it a priority, not because we have it all together, but because we hold in common a need for God. In the process, we hope learn to think less about our own needs and more about others.
The church is in no way perfect. We have a lot of work to do to make it truly good news for all people. But if Jesus can use beggars, Samaritan half-breeds, lepers, tax collectors, prodigals and prostitutes as the heroes and heroines of his teachings, then it certainly is the place for me.
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